As of noon Tuesday, Arise Health Plan had sold nine health plans on the new marketplace in Wisconsin set up under the Affordable Care Act.
This was a full week after the launch of the marketplace — and the problems that have rendered the marketplaces in Wisconsin and other states largely inoperable in their first week still have not been fully worked out.
Arise, a subsidiary of WPS Insurance Corp. in Madison, though, was beginning to see an increase in sales Tuesday, said Ellen Foley, a company spokeswoman.
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Wisconsin, a unit of WellPoint Inc., Molina Healthcare and Common Ground Healthcare Cooperative also reported they were beginning to sell health plans on the marketplace.
The Obama administration initially attributed the problems to the high volume of traffic to the main portal — the healthcare.gov website — for the marketplaces.
The administration has since acknowledged problems in the system's design and was working to fix them.
Application counselors at Progressive Community Health Centers in Milwaukee have been able to enroll a few people — something they could not do last week. But Billie Nash, an executive assistant at the community health center said, "It's been a very slow process."
The marketplaces — a key component of the health law — sell health plans aimed at people who don't get affordable health benefits through an employer and who may be eligible for subsidies in the form of federal tax credits.
The Obama administration hopes that 7 million people nationally will sign up for coverage through the marketplaces the first year.
"This is one of the most important public health initiatives many of us may see in our lifetimes," City of Milwaukee Health Commissioner Bevan Baker said Tuesday.
The law will save lives, Baker said, by providing access to health care for people who have been uninsured.
"This is something that can't be overlooked," he said.
The Health Department — which has trained 13 people to help people sign up for coverage — has not been able to enroll anyone in the first week, Baker said. And the marketplace still was having problems as of Tuesday.
But Baker said hundreds of people have come to the department's health centers to sign up for coverage.
"This tells you the demand is there," he said.
Strong interest reported
In Milwaukee County, nearly one in seven people under 65 doesn't have health insurance. And roughly 490,000 people under 65 — about one in 10 — are uninsured statewide.
Health insurers also reported strong interest in their plans and were encouraging people to get information from their call centers or websites.
Anthem Blue Cross, for instance, said it has had unprecedented call volumes and heavy traffic to its website for its plans on the Wisconsin marketplace.
Arrie Blake was among the first to try to sign up for insurance on Oct. 1.
"I know I need it," Blake said, "so why would I wait for the last minute to do it?"
She couldn't sign up through the online marketplace, but she did fill out an application.
Blake, who has had both her knees replaced, lost her health insurance when she lost her job of 30 years in 2008. She was able to get insurance through BadgerCare Plus that year. Starting next year, she will be getting subsidized coverage through the federal marketplace.
The Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin received calls all morning Tuesday from people wanting information, said Clarene Mitchell, the coalition's director of collaboration and communications.
More than 175 people also attended a panel discussion on the law Thursday organized by the Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin.
"There is a tremendous benefit to the community from this," Mitchell said.
The biggest challenge may be reaching people who are eligible for coverage and helping them sign up. Many do not have email addresses or computers. And many have never bought health insurance before.
The City of Milwaukee Health Department and others were taking names of people to contact when the system is up and running, said Jessica Gathirimu, department director of family and community health.
The launch of the marketplace was a lost week, Gathirimu acknowledged. But she was confident the efforts by various groups to help people sign up for coverage would be successful.
"The city really has come together this time," she said.
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